


Blues Mothers

by KirkyPet



Series: Sweet Home Chicago [3]
Category: Blues Brothers (Movies), Mad Max Series (Movies), Mad Max: Fury Road
Genre: F/F, F/M, Inspired by Music, Mission From God
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-27
Updated: 2018-12-03
Packaged: 2019-08-08 02:10:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,483
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16420376
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KirkyPet/pseuds/KirkyPet
Summary: Furiosa and Valkyrie Blues reunite with their former band The Blues Mothers after Furiosa’s release from prison. On a mission from God to save their childhood home, they encounter a vindictive Nazi, a mysterious man who only communicates by the language of explosives, and a golden lady driving a Jaguar. Not to mention the Good Old Gastown Boys and the ballistic Blitzkrieg of the Bullet Farm itself.





	1. The Reunion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> THANKS TO CONFUCAMUS FOR THE AMAZING ART!!!

The black’n’white rolled up outside Oakdale at dawn, the tattooed knuckles on the steering wheel announcing the driver to be one VALKYRIE.

She got out and stood by the car as the prison gates slid open, revealing a lone figure in the orange glow.

The figure stepped forward. Looked about the right shape. Right walk.

Val walked forward to meet her halfway. Black suit, check. Black hat, check. Black sunglasses, check.

Hey Fury.

*

Val was extra careful driving off the prison grounds, giving a hand signal before turning left. You just never knew who was watching.

Furiosa straightened her tie and surveyed the vehicle critically. She seemed kinda agitated. “What's this?”

“What?”

“This car. This stupid car.”

Val pouted a little - _not a stupid car -_

Fury jabbed the cigarette between her lips like she had a grudge against it, and reached for the dash lighter. “Where's the Cadillac?”

There was no spark in that thing, and it didn’t work no better for Fury, who threw it out the window in exasperation.

“The Cadillac” she repeated impatiently. “The Caddy - where's the Caddy?”

“The what?” Val shifted uncomfortably.

“The _Cadillac_ we used to have.” Her voice was plaintive now “The _Bluesmobile_.”

“I traded it.”

“You traded the Bluesmobile for _this_?”

“No, for a microphone.”

“A microphone?” Furiosa considered a moment. “Okay, I can see that. But what the hell is THIS?”

“This was a bargain. I picked it up at the Mount Prospect City Police Auction last spring. It’s an old Mount Prospect police car. They were practically giving ‘em away.”

“Well, thank _you_ , pal. The day I get out of prison, my own sister picks me up in a _police car_.”  Fury practically spat the last words.

HOOOONK HOOONK HONK.

They slowed to a halt as the barriers came down. The suspension bridge slowly began to rise.

CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG.

“You don't like it?” Val asked piteously.

Furiosa turned to look at her sister, her face a picture of offended disappointment. “No, I don't like it.”

Val gritted her teeth and pulled sharply out of the line, flooring the gas. The car accelerated up the incline and leapt the gap, landing on the other side with ne’er a scratch.

“Car's got a lot of pick-up.” Furiosa admitted.

Val smiled as she catechised “It's got a cop motor, a 440-cubic-inch plant. It's got cop tyres, cop suspension, cop shocks.”

Furiosa reached into her pocket for her own lighter. 

“It’s a model made before catalytic converters so it'll run good on regular gas. Whaddya say?” Val glanced half-nervously at her sister, who was busy lighting up. “Is it the new Bluesmobile, or what?”

But Fury was relenting, Val could see it, now she’d seen what the Dodge could do. Plus a smoke probably helped too.

“Fix the cigarette lighter.”

Val felt a glow of satisfaction. She’d done good, Fury was out, and everything was gonna be great.


	2. The Penguin

But Val’s glow didn’t last long. Driving west on 90, she remembered where they were headed and her stomach dropped like rocks.

Fury wouldn’t like it, but Val was unswayed. You did not fuck with the Penguin. She considered the consequences of breaking a promise to a nun, least of all Sister Mary Stigmata. Eternal damnation, most like. No, gotta do it. It was just a visit. What’s the worst she could do to them anyways?

But Fury was already fidgeting in her seat two blocks into that old familiar neighborhood. Pulling up at the Shroud, she sighed dramatically.

“What are we doing here?” she asked, in that I-know-perfectly-well-what-we’re-doing-here voice.

“You promised you’d visit the Penguin the day you got out” Val replied mildly.

“Yeah - ? So I lied to her.”

“You can’t _lie_ to a nun” Val choked back an appalled laugh. “We gotta go in and visit the Penguin.”

”No. Fucking. Way” Fury folded her arms across her chest stubbornly.

Val understood why, though. The Penguin had been awful hard on Fury the last time they were in the same room. First visiting day, the Penguin had showed up; gave her a dusting down right in front of everyone. 

Fury hadn’t told her what the Sister had said, and Val hadn’t asked, but she knew it had stung. If anyone but the Penguin had said stuff like that to Fury, they’d be picking up their teeth with broken fingers. But you couldn’t do that with a nun.

Besides, well - Val knew that the Penguin’s good opinion was of much greater importance to her sister than she would ever admit, probably even to herself. And the Penguin meant well. She did care about them, probably like God did. From way up high.

Which was why she couldn’t let Fury wriggle out of a reconciliation.

*

They approached the Penguin’s office through the dormitory. God, it was strange walking past those old iron bedsteads again. They looked so small now. Val kinda missed those days.

But hey. They were back together again, Val reminded Fury with nod and a squeeze of the shoulder. They opened the door -

CREAAAAAK

\- and shivered. Sharing a glance, they went on through the dreaded portal.

Her nerves were frazzled enough what with the dark stairs and the knocked-out flyweight Jesus that hovered over them but, when the creaky door slammed behind them, Val thanked that same Saviour she’d already taken a leak. The sharp ”Who is it?” had very little effect after that. She froze with her knuckle inches from the door.

“Furiosa and Valkyrie - ” she replied, as if reading a disappointing baseball score.

The door swung open. There she was. The Penguin, behind her desk. She still had the ruler. They both shivered.

“Come in!”

They stepped in, reluctantly. Every footfall echoed. The door swung shut behind them. Of course it did.

“Hello, girls.” She took off her glasses and beamed at them, and went on almost affably. They knew better. “Nice to see you. Please, have a seat.”

They looked round the room. The only seats were two old school chairs in the furthest corner. They folded themselves up in them as best they could.

“No, girls” the Sister objected. “Come over here in front of ME. I want to see your faces.”

Fury and Val shared a glance. This was not gonna be good. They shuffled those desks forward. Val retreated behind her hand instinctively, waiting to be caught. For what, didn’t much matter. She’d done something, that was a given.

Sister Mary Stigmata put the ruler down, folded her hands and leaned forward mournfully. “The county took a tax assessment of this property last month. They want $5,000.”

What? Val frowned, raising her head. “Doesn’t the church have to pay that?”

Sister Mary Stigmata got up and walked around the desk. “They would if they were interested in keeping the place. But they aren't. The archbishop wants to sell this building outright to the Board of Education.”

“What’s gonna happen to you?” asked Val. They can’t do that. Not the Shroud!

“I'll be sent to the missions. Africa, Latin America - Korea.” The Penguin looked like she thought the slopes of hell would be better.

“Forget it!” Furiosa cut in, sounding a bit like a mob boss. “Five grand? No problem! We'll have it for you in the morning. Let's go, Val.”

They made to get up. Out, quick.

“No no!” the Penguin’s voice was shrill. “I will not take your filthy, stolen money!” 

They sat back again. Val tried to hide in her own hat. Ohhh, Christ. Here it comes. She had not foreseen a shitstorm of this magnitude.

Furiosa leaned back in her seat. “Well, then” she said. “I guess you're really up shit creek.” 

Val’s head whipped round. Aw fuck, say she didn’t. The ruler flashed down onto Fury’s hand. The good one, naturally.

SMACK

“Ow!”

“I beg your pardon. What did you say?”

Fury took a deep breath, trying not to lose her shit. “I offered to help you.”

“Mm-hm?” the Penguin prompted. It sounded like she was smiling.

“You refused to take our money.”

”Mm-hm” she agreed.

“Then I said, “I guess you're really up shit creek.''” 

The ruler flashed again.

SMACK 

“Yow!”

“Christ, Fury, take it easy.” Val cut in, alarmed. Could we maybe just stop saying ‘shit’?

“Valkyrie!”

SMACK

“Ow! Shit!”

SMACK 

“Jesus Christ!”

SMACK 

“Shit!”

SMACK

“Jesus!”

SMACK

“Shit! Goddammit!”

SMACK SMACK

“Son of a bitch!”

SMACKSMACKSMACKSMACKSMACK

“Agh you fat Penguin!” Val yelped in desperation, on which provocation the nun broke the ruler over her former pupil’s head. And reached instead for the cane on her desk. She flourished it above her head like a samurai sword.

“Fuck this noise, man!” Val leapt to her feet and fled. Furiosa hopped behind, unable to extricate herself from the school chair. Sadly, that encumbrance made it too much of a challenge to navigate the stairs.

CRASH OW OW OW

“You are such a disappointing pair. I prayed so hard for you.”

Bones well and truly rattled, Furiosa looked up from the wreckage. There was Sister Mary Stigmata at the top of the stairs, hand raised, looking like Moses yelling at the Israelites.

“It saddens and hurts me that the two young women whom I raised to believe in the Ten Commandments have returned to me as two thieves with filthy mouths and bad attitudes.”

She pointed in banishment, then folded her hands on her breast. “Get out! And don't come back - until you've redeemed yourselves.”

A chill wind blew for a second or two as she glided back into her room.

SLAM

They both cringed. Banished.

Just then an old familiar voice called out -

“Girls, you gotta learn not to talk to nuns that way.”

It was like a beam of sunshine.

They scrambled to their feet and hurried to greet their old friend, who beamed at them, arms outstretched, with a “Fury! Valkyrie!”

“Keeper!” they cried in unison. It was good to see her old laughing face after the half hour they’d just had.

They both hugged her with a “You look fine, Keep!” and a “Good to see you, Keep!” 

“Hey, you girls look like you need a drink!” she laughed.

Shit, she wasn’t wrong.


	3. The Light

Well, here they were again. Keeper’s basement. Fury was on her second smoke, toning down the overwhelming mix of smells that were Keep’s herb collection. She already looked a bit less shook up. That’d been quite a brush with the Penguin. And with gravity.

Val looked around, her eyes lingering on the most familiar objects. The old easy chair with those lacy things on the armrests; the grumbling boiler that still looked like a cranky octopus with long coppery legs.

Her stomach rumbled. She wondered if Keep would make some toast.

How long had it been since they’d visited? Long time. But they’d had a lot going on, right? Gigs, tours, the slammer. This table didn’t used to be so low, did it?

No. Nothing had changed. It’s just that she was was more used to her feet dangling as she sat. 

And the same old gramophone played the same old tunes.

The kettle began to whistle. 

Keep emerged from the herb room, teapot in one hand and liquor bottle in the other.

“Girls, things are bad” she sighed, filling the pot. “They gonna sell this place to the Board of Education - and I'll be out on the street.”

She poured a splash of clear liquor into their china cups. Things were tight, but Keep still brought out her best set for visitors. Val sniffed at its contents, trying to guess what this batch was flavoured with. 

”That money's got to be in the Cook County Assessor's Office in eleven days” Keep lamented.

“They wouldn't turn YOU out, would they?” Fury asked, plaintively.

“Shit” Keep shrugged, reaching for the teapot. “What's one more old biddy to the Board of Education?”

“Keeper” Val shook her head. “You  and the Penguin are the only family we got. You're the only one that was ever good to us - singing Elmore James tunes and blowing the harp for us down here.”

Val smiled, remembering back when they were kids. How could the old home not be there anymore? And so soon, too? But hey, she thought bitterly. Everything changes.

Keeper smiled mistily at them both. “Well - the Sister was right. You girls could use a little churching up.”

Val nodded, neutrally. It wouldn’t do any harm, in her opinion, but it was Fury who had been stung.

“Slide on down to the Triple Rock and catch Reverend Giddy” was Keep’s advice. “You girls listen to what she's got to say.”

“Keep” Furiosa drained the liquor from her cup before sliding it sullenly across the table. “I don't wanna listen to no jive-ass preacher talking to me about heaven and hell.”

Unfazed, Keeper leaned forward and jabbed a finger at her.

“Furiosa! You get wise. You get to church!”

*

The Bluesmobile pulled up at Triple Rock Baptist Church; the congregation were filing in, called there by the organ’s deep buzzing  tones. To Val, it had the sound of vague disapproval. Reluctantly, they got out.

“All I'm saying is, we got to figure out some way to get that money honestly.”Val said, buttoning up her collar.

Furiosa straightened her tie huffily. “That could be a problem.” She still looked pretty pissed. 

“Like the Penguin says” Val went on, trying to sound convincing, and probably failing. “We gotta move toward redemption. We gotta go to church.”

 _“‘We got to move toward redemption. We gotta go to church.’”_ Furiosa mimicked. “Bullshit.”

“Come on.” Val brushed crumbs from her jacket and nudged her sister forward.

*

Well, that was unexpected. 

There they were, standing awkwardly at the back of Triple Rock, watching the good folks settle down with their fans and their best hats.

When the choirmaster announced our beloved Reverend Giddy, Fury shuffled her feet, looking about ready to bolt. Val was glad she was on the door side.

While the Reverend kicked up a storm about the ‘jingle-jangle of a thousand lost, anguished souls roaming unseen over the earth - seeking a divine light’, Val merely hoped this wasn’t going to be a long one.

Just then a movement from Fury caught her eye – her thoughts were clearly running along the same lines. Furiosa was very pointedly looking at her watch, in a manner that would get the Penguin pretty riled if she saw it.

Val sighed. She couldn’t really blame her. She’d hoped Keep was right, but it seemed like all the Reverend was telling them was how truly fucked they were. 

_‘Too late, tooooo laaaaate’_ Giddy wailed, taunting the two lost souls.

“For the day of the Lord cometh - like a thief in the night! - can I get an Amen?”

While the more righteous of the congregation got to jumping and whirling about, Val glanced uneasily at her sister. She didn’t look so good.

Her nostrils were flaring, breathing quick - Jesus Christ, she was twitching.

“Fury, are you all right?”

It was just like that time she got smacked between the eyes in Little League. Val saw her take a deep breath.

“The band” she whispered. “The band – the BAND!”

“The band?” Val echoed.

“Do you see the light?” the Reverend cried out.

“THE BAND!!” yelled Fury.

“Do you see the light?” Giddy asked again.

Val, bewildered, asked “What light?”

“HAVE YOU SEEN THE LIGHT?”

No mistake, Giddy was jumping up and down, pointing RIGHT AT THEM.

“Yes! Yes! Jesus H. Tap-Dancing Christ! I have seen the light!” Fury bellowed, waving her hands in the air.

Val’s jaw was somewhere near the floor at this point, and it must’ve hit it when she saw what her sister did next. 

Fury never mentioned she’d been taking circus classes in Oakdale.

She came back down the aisle again, barely out of breath. Beaming, she grabbed Val by her shoulders and shrieked “The band, Val! The band!”

“The band - ?” Val quavered. Then it hit her like a tidal wave of syrup – slow but sure. “The band?” became “The – band - ?” and then “THE BAND!!” 

THAT was it! That was the redemption they’d been searching for!

Val vented her feelings with a rapturous lap of the church before rejoining Fury, who was praising the Lord with star jumps.  


	4. The Mall

Val slotted an eight-track into the player. Something soothing. Furiosa needed to be dialed down a few notches; it was like someone had put a rocket under her.

“We'll put the band back together, we do a few gigs - we get some bread! Bang! Five thousand bucks!”

“Well, getting the band back together might - not be that easy.”

Val stared disconsolately at the steering wheel. HER excitement had been more short-lived, dampened by uncomfortable necessity for further confession. 

“What are you talking about?”

“They split” Val admitted. “They all took straight jobs.”

Of course they did. The Mothers weren’t no good without Fury.

“Yeah? So you know where they are. You said you were keeping in touch with them.”

“I - I got a couple of leads, a few phone numbers - ? But, I mean, how many of them visited or even wrote you?”

“The Mothers don’t write letters. YOU were outside. I was inside. You were supposed to keep in touch with the band. I kept asking you if we were gonna play again.”

Fury almost sounded like she was gonna cry.

“What was I gonna do?” Val implored. “Take away your only hope? Take away the very thing that kept you going in there? I took the liberty of bullshitting you. Okay?”

“You lied to me.”

“It wasn't lies. It was just bullshit.”

And that was a big difference.

*

They drove on in uncomfortable silence, Val mulling over everything and nothing. She was snapped back to the here and now by flashing lights in her rear view. The cop in the driving seat waved her to pull over. 

“Shit.”

“What?”

“Rollers.”

“No!”

“Shit.”

Val slumped in her seat and glanced at Fury. She had her lips pressed so tight you could’ve used them as a ruler. Not happy.

She waited apprehensively.

Finally, a figure appeared at the window, shone a flashlight around the car and into their faces.

“What? What did I do?” Val snapped at the cop.

“You failed to stop at a red signal.”

“The light was yellow, sir” she replied coldly.

“May I see your license, please?”

There was nothing else for it; Val reached up and plucked her license from the visor. The cop carried it away.  Aw shit, her name would be all over that new computer system of theirs.

“Goddammit!” Fury growled.

“Man, I haven't been pulled over in six months.”

Footsteps approaching.

“Valkyrie, we show your license currently under suspension. Step out of the car, please.”

As cop took a step backwards to allow the driver door to open, Val reached for the handle -

\- then fired up the ignition and took off. Oh yeah, she thought, seeing the cops flee to their car. Not catching us now. Hold on -

In her peripheral vision, Fury was clinging to her seat, looking kinda bummed. Then she took a deep breath. Wait for it - 

“First you trade the Cadillac for a microphone. Then you lie to me about the band. Now you're gonna put me right back in the joint!”

“THEY’RE not gonna catch us” Val replied, with a contempt that surprised even herself. “We're on a mission from God.”

*

“Val - ” Furiosa groaned as they - and the cop car - spun through intersection traffic. It was like riding a waltzer at the fair. Was Fury going to throw up? Val hoped not. With this kind of driving, it’d be like a frog in a blender.

Speeding up Portland Avenue, Val glanced in her rear view and panicked. Shit! TWO cop cars! On impulse, she turned the wheel a sharp left, straight into Dixie Square mall parking lot.

“We’ll be alright if we can just get back on the expressway” Val muttered through gritted teeth. They’d followed. Why why why had she turned off?

“This don't look like no expressway to me!” Fury bellowed.

“Don't yell at me” Val muttered, dodging parked cars, trying to maintain speed.

“What the hell you want me to do, motor head?” Furiosa snapped.

“Try not to be so negative all the time. Why don't you offer some - constructive criticism?” Chance’d be a fine thing. 

“You got us into this parking lot, pal. Now you get us out!”

“You want out of this parking lot? Okay - ”

Val floored the gas and smashed right into Toys R Us.

*

It’s not like it hadn’t crossed her mind that driving through the wall of a toy store might not be the safest thing to do. It was just that - well, if they were on a mission from God, He wasn’t going to let anyone get hurt. 

Besides, the sooner they got onto the expressway, the sooner Fury would let up bitching.

*

It was going pretty well, really. If there was one thing Val knew she was good at, it was driving. And the shoppers were pretty nimble at getting out of the way.

“Wow. This place has got everything!”

It was quite nice, really - it was kinda like window shopping. Once you got used to dodging pedestrians and avoiding the car getting hung up on store fronts. The mall had been built while Fury was inside and Val had been looking forward to showing her round. Yep, she seemed pretty impressed. 

After all, it’s got all the fancy stores under one roof, and lots of space to get around.

Val nodded in appreciation, as they exited through JC Penney’s and made for the expressway.


	5. Home

Shit, this neighbourhood was going downhill. Driveby shootings were nothing new this part of Downtown, but they weren’t typically firing FUCKING ROCKETS.

Val lifted her nose from the sidewalk, took a deep breath and coughed as plaster dust got into her pipes. Fury looked a little stunned as she got to her feet, but otherwise intact. Some homecoming this is. Well, Val had never liked that door anyhow.

She’d called this flophouse ‘home’ for just over a year now. It was a nice place, sure. If you liked trains. Val could take them or leave them.

But they didn’t bother her much. They went past so often, you didn’t hardly notice.

Val straightened up, shot Fury an apologetic glance and ushered her in.

*

“Hey, Lilly. Anyone call for me on the phone?”

”Naw, no calls. One guy left his card” the concierge wheezed, looking up from her television. “A cop. He said he’d be back.”

She slid the card through the hatch. Val picked it up and peered at it. ILLINOIS DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS. Burton Mercer. Uh-oh. She handed it to Fury who glanced at it, then flicked it away.

Val sighed. “This here's my sister, Furiosa. She just got out of the joint. She’s gonna be staying with me for a few weeks.”

“Yuhhhh okay” the concierge nodded, turning her attention back to the fight.

*

Room 104, right at the end of the hall, unrivalled view of the railway tracks. Home sweet home.

Fury squeezed round the door and made herself comfortable. A picture fell off the wall as a train clattered past the window.

Val hung up her jacket and hat, and put on a record. Let the good times roll! She rubbed her hand together and got to work with the hotplate and a loaf of bread. 

Furiosa looked over from where she was propped up on the bed. “What are you doing?”

“Making dinner. Want some?” 

Furiosa’s only response was to take another swill from the bottle of Jack.

“Tomorrow we got to get the band back together” Val nodded to herself. “I'm gonna quit work in the morning, first thing.”

“And how are you going to get to work, Motor Head?” Fury grumbled. “Those cops took your license. They got your name, your address - ” 

“No, they don't got my address!” Val interrupted, with a smirk. She was pretty proud of this one. “I falsified my renewal. I put down 1060 West Addison.”

“1060 West Addison?” Furiosa thought for a moment and then huffed a laugh. “That's Wrigley Field.”

Yup. Hehe, she’d like to see those cops’ faces when they showed up there.

Val swayed a little and she blinked heavy lids. Tired.

“I gotta hit the sack - ” she muttered.

But Fury was crashed out asleep, sprawled out on the narrow bed.

“Hey bitch! That’s my bed!” Val protested, but halfheartedly. Aww, look at her there, sleeping like a baby. It was always kinda comforting to see Fury sleep. It meant she wouldn’t be getting into any trouble for a while.

Val smiled, sighed and draped a blanket over her, and then got back to the business of dinner, as the trains rolled by.

*

They slept long past daylight, one spreadeagled on the narrow bed, the other covered in toast crumbs on a chair.

While outside, two stony faced cops and a guy in a loud check sports jacket approached the entrance of 22 West Van Buren Street. The check guy looked like he was the only one who got the joke.

“This, gentlemen, is the elegant abode of one Valkyrie Blues” he grinned.

“Thanks, Mr Mercer” replied the cop, only slightly ungraciously.

“I kinda liked the Wrigley Field bit.” Mercer chuckled.

“Yeah, real cute” the cop grumbled, looking daggers.

They went inside. No one noticed the Ford Falcon across the street. Its driver a man in a torn leather jacket, its passenger a rocket launcher. He flicked the toggle on a detonator and drove off as the building slowly and strategically crumpled.

*

“Shit, that’s one hell of an alarm”, Fury muttered as she sat up and coughed on plaster dust for the second time in twelve hours. Val found her feet shakily and looked at her watch.

“It's almost 9:00. We've gotta go to work.”

*

Val donned her safety glasses for the last time, that morning. She briefly visited the pre-packing line, nodded a greeting to Barbara and swiped a can of extra strong. Just as a souvenir.

Right. Time to visit Bob.

Val walked on into the foreman’s office and sat down. Bob looked up mildly from his writing.

“Hello, Valkyrie. Sit down. What's on your mind?”

“I gotta quit” Val said, firmly but apologetically.

Bob looked up briefly, with a “Why IS that, Valkyrie?” before going back to his work.

“I’m going to become a nun.”

Bob looked up slowly, regarded her for a moment without speaking, then nodded.

“Well okay - I’ll call payroll and have them get your severance pay ready.”

He smiled and got to his feet. Val followed suit and, with a sheepish smile, shook him by the hand.

“Good luck!” said Bob.

“God bless you, sir” she said, sincerely.

Bob looked genuinely blessed. “Why, thank you!” he beamed, as she walked out the door.


End file.
